Obama and Menendez Win!

Published on Thursday, November 8, 2012

President Barack Obama won re-election in a hard-fought victory against challenger Mitt Romney. President Obama earned 58% of the popular vote in New Jersey, awarding him our fourteen electoral votes. While the official popular vote totals are still being tabulated, unofficial results show Obama winning 50% of the popular vote, and ultimately won the Presidency with 303 electoral votes to Romney’s 206. The balance of power in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives remains unchanged, which will likely lead to continued gridlock in Washington for the next two years.

As expected, NJEA PAC-endorsed candidate Senator Bob Menendez easily won re-election over State Senator Joe Kyrillos. Senator Menendez’s strong commitment to public education will continue to be a source of inspiration for the six years of his coming term.

While Hurricane Sandy took its toll on NJEA members and the public alike, our committed team of member volunteers persevered, continuing to hold Get-Out-The-Vote efforts across the state. Even in sub-optimal conditions, hundreds of NJEA members participated in phone banks and door-to-door canvasses, many leaving behind homes without electricity and heat to work tirelessly to elect our endorsed candidates.

New Jersey bids farewell to a congressional district following this election, as the decennial redistricting process eliminated one of our districts. In June, Congressman Bill Pascrell won the Democratic Primary in a merged district with Steve Rothman, and easily defeated his Republican opponent last night. Earlier this year, we also bid farewell to long-serving Congressman Donald Payne, Sr, who lost his long battle with cancer. He is succeeded in Congress by his son, Donald Payne, Jr. NJEA PAC-endorsed candidate Shelley Adler lost her hard-fought campaign to defeat Congressman Jon Runyan.

NJEA Member Marie Corfield Awaits Decision

Marie Corfield, an art teacher in Flemington-Raritan School District, made a valiant effort in her second run for State Assembly, this year against incumbent Donna Simon. NJEA members from all across the state came out to support Marie by volunteering directly on her campaign, participating in member-to-member organizing efforts, and even contributing financially to her campaign. As of this writing, Simon maintains a narrow lead over Corfield, but with thousands of Vote By Mail ballots still to be counted, the race is too close to call.

Ballot Questions

Ballot Question #1 passed with 62% of the vote. The “Building Our Future Bond Act” authorizes the state to issue bonds in the aggregate principal amount of $750 million to provide matching grants to New Jersey’s colleges and universities. Money from the grants will be used to build, equip and expand higher education facilities for the purpose of increasing academic capacity. NJEA PAC supported this public question.

Ballot Question #2 passed with 83% of the vote. This constitutional amendment will allow contributions set by law to be taken from the salaries of Supreme Court Justices and Superior Court Judges for their employee benefits. NJEA PAC opposed this public question.

2012 N.J. Legislative Winners

County, Municipal & Board of Education Races

County and Local Associations around the state made endorsements in County, Municipal and Board of Education races, answering the call for deeper involvement in local elections. 53% of these endorsed candidates won their elections. Winners are listed in bold. NJEA members are denoted with *.